Waiting For The End
by Lexisrush
Summary: Songfic using the Linkin Park song 'Waiting for the End'.  Fax filled and kind of sad but i think a must read if you love Fang and Max.


(this song fic wasn't beta'ed so don't go on spelling and grammar that badly please, I'll replace this once I actually focus on my songfics and when my Beta and I take a look at the mistakes. Thank you for reading anyway, and remember that awesome review button at the end of each chapter? Please use it, even if you don't have an account or you're too lazy to log in.)

Waiting For The End

**A/N** **Well** here's yet another songfic I had to get out while I was actually supposed to work on my main fic 'Fang's Army', I searched whether I could find songfics for this song for Maximum Ride but couldn't find any. So here's one, enjoy. This fic is set after FANG like most of my other fics and I really enjoy this song, had it on repeat while writing this. This song just screamed Maximum Ride to me. This is a songfic(if I haven't made the point clear already) so I don't own the song _Waiting for the End_, Linkin Park does, and I sure as hell don't own Max Ride or Fang, James Patterson does, I do own this story though, I think. So steal this idea and you die, painfully. Have a nice day. :D

_**This is not the end**_

_**This is not the beginning,**_

_**Just a voice like a riot **_

_**Rocking every revision**_

_**But you listen to the tone**_

_**And the violent rhythm**_

_**Though the words sound steady**_

_**Something empty's within 'em**_

_**We say Yeah!**_

_**With fists flying up in the air**_

_**Like we're holding onto something**_

_**That's invisible there,**_

_**'Cause we're living at the mercy of**_

_**The pain and the fear**_

_**Until we dead it, Forget it,**_

_**Let it all disappear.**_

_Being a bird kid means a difficult life. It means pain and fear until the day you die. _

_It means you don't really exist and when you die, they forget, it all disappears. You live for each day and l live just to survive, you live at the mercy of the pain and fear._ _This controls you, rules your life and ultimately kills you._ _This is the life of a mutant, the life of Maximum Ride and whoever shares her and her Flock's fate. The life of an experiment. A life on the run. A life ruled by a fight for survival. The fate I face every day._

**Max's POV** _**Waiting for the end to come**_ _**Wishing **_

_**I had strength to stand**_

_**This is not what I had planned**_

_**It's out of my control...**_

I was lying on the ground at the feet of someone who might or might not become my killer. I didn't have any strength left in my body and maybe even less blood caused by the gash in my head. The wound in my forehead was throbbing in time with the one in my side.

My vision was blurry and my will power almost nonexistent. _He wasn't here after all_, just like all the other times I searched, this was just a dead end. A dead end that might just get another meaning today.

The person towering over me gave me another kick in my side and I yelled out in pain. He had inhuman strength and I knew what he was.

_Please God if you're gonna let me die, let it happen fast_. I thought and braced myself again for the next kick. I wished for strength to at least stand up, I wasn't one for just waiting to die.

_Oh God_ this is not how I had planned, I was supposed to come to this abandoned building, find Fang, beat up some asshole that kidnapped him in the first place and then escape and meet up with the Flock at the hotel I left them.

But this was now out of my control.

He wasn't here, I was being beat up by a lone Eraser and I might die.

The day started out with so much promise, how did it turn out like this?

_**Flying at the speed of light**_

_**Thoughts were spinning in my head**_

_**So many things were left unsaid**_

_**It's hard to let you go...**_

xXx

"Morning Max." Nudge greeted taking out an apple from the gift basket the hotel gave us.

She brushed it off on her skirt and took a big bite and smiled at me. I tried smiling back but like every other morning I felt empty and sad.

I was sitting at the little breakfast nook with Fang's old laptop. I was checking his old blog like I did _every_ morning. People sometimes left comments on where they saw Fang or something that might be obviously just a trap. Some of the places people usually said they saw him usually were so farfetched I didn't even bother.

But sometimes a tipoff just screamed '_check me out'_, and this morning there was one of those.

I read it and for a moment my heart caught in my throat.

'_Hey, I'm probably going to be in trouble for this. I think I know what happened to him. I'm not going to say who I am, but you can trust me._ _I saw them taking him into this abandoned building somewhere in Brooklyn, there's still a black van pulled up back so you'll know which building when you're there. I don't know how long they're going to be there but I believe he needs to get out of there before they move on. He's tied up and looked badly beaten._

_Good luck_

_Guardian Angel'_

"Iggy, you're in charge, I'm going out." I said standing up from my chair and grabbing my coat.

Iggy agreed and told me how he didn't like me going out by myself, I replied that it wasn't dangerous and I could handle it. He reluctantly let me go and I was out of the building in less than a minute.

I took off from the roof of the hotel and orientated myself in the direction of New York, a flight that normally would take us about 3 hours from where we were now.

I turned on my super speed, _not wanting to lose what might be my only chance to save him_. I wasn't flying at the speed of light quite yet but with my super enhanced speed I might reach New York in less than an hour.

During this hour thoughts started to mill around in my head. That night he left kept replaying in my head, reminding me off how much I needed to get him back. There was so much I still had to tell him, so much left unsaid. I still couldn't believe he was gone, each morning I would stand up, get dressed and think he'll be there to scare the crap out of me when I turn around, but this never happened again.

I couldn't let go, it was too hard. My head kept telling me he was gone forever, _or just for 20 years_, but my heart kept telling me he was there, that he needed me to find him, he _needed_ me.

xXx

_Now_ I was beat up, bleeding and alone. He was gone and I probably walked right into a trap. _I lost._

_**(Oh!) I know what it takes to move on,**_

_**(Oh!)I know how it feels to lie,**_

_**All I wanna do **_

_**Is trade this life for something new**_

_**Holding on to what I haven't got**_

I've always known how to move on, friends died, Jeb disappeared, family died. That was part of life and I thought I was prepared for whatever might come my way. Hell, I was made in a lab, I've endured more than what most people in war situations had to endure _and_ survived. I've been built to be though and survive and be _more_ than human.

But losing Fang, that was just something I couldn't move on from. I dwelled and searched and couldn't move on. _I still can't._ I _know_ what it takes to move on, but doing it is a completely different story. I know how it is to lie, I've been taught to do that my entire life. Lie about my feelings, lie about who I am, lie about _what_ I am. All for the sake of surviving. I'd also be lying to myself if I said I didn't want Fang, didn't care enough to try and find him.

I'd give anything to not feel the pain I felt, not have this life of lying, of being something different than normal. Of being _Maximum Ride._

I wish I was just a normal teenager arguing with her parents, going on dates, 'forgetting' homework, gossiping with _normal_ friends about _normal_ stuff.

I wish I wasn't in this situation now, at the brink of dying, hurting from the wounds a monster gave me but also hurting from a broken heart. I just wished I had Fang, I just wish we were normal and allowed to love, allowed to grow up as normal kids and decide our own destinies.

I wish I could hold onto everything that I never really had and never lose what I have again.

I wish I still had Fang.

**Fang's POV**

_**Sitting in an empty room**_

_**Trying to forget the past**_

_**This was never meant to last,**_

_**I wish it wasn't so...**_

My arms were aching and my head hurt like hell. At least _they_ left me for the time being and I wasn't being beaten up anymore.

The room was empty and cold. I was all alone and it was my fault, _I was weak and couldn't survive on my own_.

Yes, I left the flock on my own. Yes, I thought it was for the best. Yes, I miss them like crazy. Yes, I'm sitting in an empty room tied up and beaten by minions of some Doctor who liked to play God. Yes, I'm trying to forget the past.

It seemed easier that way, forget what hurts you the most, _yeah, easy and it'll save you the heart break_, or that's what I keep telling myself. But who could forget Max? I love her and I'll _always_ love her, she's Max, how can you _not_ love her?

I got into this mess 'cause I love her, I left 'cause that was all I could do to save her. But how would I have known that by leaving them I'd get myself caught? I was this one stop away from being back in a lab, it's been one hellish cross country trip that was now coming to the end in the place it all seemed to have begun. The lab we found out about our parents and where we rescued a bunch of experiments, and we were one car trip away from it.

Now I was locked up in a room waiting for the end, waiting for the lab to come and collect me and drag me back to hell where they'll most probably change me and _if I'm lucky_, end up killing me.

_**(Oh!) I know what it takes to move on,**_

_**(Oh!)I know how it feels to lie,**_

_**All I wanna do **_

_**Is trade this life for something new**_

_**Holding on to what I haven't got**_

_I'm just going to move on and accept whatever happens, knowing that at least I saved _her_, saved Max_. I kept telling myself. _Shutting down was easier, forgetting was bliss._

Yeah I felt bad, I lied about meeting her in 20 years, but I've lied to her before too. I thought I'd be with her and never have to leave her again, but I _did_ leave. I told her I'd never hurt her, I _did_ hurt her. I promised her I'd stay alive, but I _am_ going to die here.

All I ever wanted, all I ever _desired_ was to have a normal life, trade this hellish existence for something new and normal and save. _Pain free_. I'd still trade this life for that, but in this world we don't get choices, we don't get to chose what we have and what happens to us. We just have to endure. _Survive_.

I wish I could at least have Max here with me, to at least hold her before I was gone. Hold what I never had, in my arms and wish the moment will never go away and go on forever. I just wish I wasn't so alone.

_**What was left when that fire was gone?**_

_**I thought it felt right but that right was wrong**_

_**All caught up in the eye of the storm**_

_**And trying to figure out what it's like moving on**_

_**And I don't even know what kind of things I've said**_

_**My mouth kept moving and my mind went dead**_

_**So, picking up the pieces, now where to begin?**_

_**The hardest part of ending is starting again!**_

Suddenly knocking me out of my trance was an explosion. I was knocked to the side of the room and the air left my body. Stars danced in front of my vision, growing brighter and dimmer as the background faded from black and back. My head spun and so did the world around me.

I took a big gulp of air and the room seemed to steady itself somewhat. I heard screams and people moving around but couldn't find the controls to move my head in the direction the noises came from, instead I was staring at a pile of rubble in front of a bare brown broken wall.

A hand suddenly found my shoulder and I felt myself moving, being pulled to face the hand's owner.

A familiar smiling face greeted me.

_Nudge._

I tried to smile but I still couldn't find the controls to my body.

"Sorry Fang, we had to get into the room and we didn't know where Max was and Iggy said he knew what he was doing and they built this bomb they hoped would work. But oh my Gosh we didn't know we'd be finding you!" She started to babble and pulled me into a hug. Gazzy and Iggy joined us and stood behind her.

I just stared out in front of me, hardly believing what was happening. Blankly staring out into space, not saying a word or moving to hug Nudge back.

I tried moving my limps to say something, it didn't work. I got my lips moving but I couldn't force the words out, I didn't even know what I'd say to them. My mind was gone.

"Fang, listen to me. Max is gone. We think she's in this building somewhere. She needs you, oh God Fang she might be hurt, she didn't come back today when she was supposed to." Nudge said holding me at arm's length and looking me in the eyes. I just stared at her.

The pieces didn't quite make sense in my head. I didn't expect, _or believe_, that the Flock would just appear here after I haven't seen them in so long.

"I can't hear Max's thoughts, they were there a minute ago, now they're gone!" Angel yelled franticly joining the familiar faces.

"Wait, what does that mean?" Suddenly I regain my control. The force of the question hurt my throat but I got my thoughts across.

Everyone's attention was now on me. I was looking up at Angel's blue eyes. "That means she might have died."

That signaled the end of my self-pity, and the start of a mission to kill whoever did it.

_**All I wanna do **_

_**Is trade this life for something new**_

_**Holding on to what I haven't got...**_

Nudge grabed my arm and pulled me up, holding onto me so I wouldn't fall over. Gazzy cut me loose while Angel filled me in on what images Max saw before everything went black. I had a faint idea where it was.

As soon as I was cut loose I ran to the door and kicked it off of the hinges. I ran down the hall and down the stairs, taking three at a time.

I could hear the rest of the Flock following as I ran down the hall towards the big dining hall, something was drawing me there.

I burst through the double doors and accidently breathed a big lung full of dust. It hurts not to couth and I do my best not to sneeze. I come to a stop in the middle of the room and saw the person towering over her. His back was to me but as soon as he heard me he turned around. He wasn't wearing a shirt and his pants were in shreds barely covering him. He was barefoot and even from the back I could see his hair was a mess, it looked wild. He had scars all over his back.

"Step. Away. From. Her." I order in my most sadistic voice, my words dripped with venom when I saw Max lying at his feet on her stomach, her face was down and there was a pool of blood around her.

The others joined me just after I finished talking. Nudge gasped. Gazzy wanted to run and attack the guy but Angel stopped him. Iggy knew it had to look bad, so he waited patiently for someone to explain the scene to him.

Before I could think of what I would do next I was already launching myself at the tall Eraser. As he saw me coming he started to morph into his Eraser form. Before he could change into the monster completely I had already tackled him to the ground.

Somehow we managed to miss falling on Max, but we were rolling around on the dust covered ground, wrestling for dear life. He clawed at my face and I knew it had left a mark. I ignored the stinging pain it caused and I reached for his throat. _I had to end it soon_.

He started punching me in the sides of my torso when my fingers reached around his neck and I started to squeeze. I pushed harder and harder, pouring all my strength into my arms. He stopped hitting my ribs and started to claw at my arms, punching them halfheartedly and ripping my jacket and the skin underneath.

The strength started to fade out of the Eraser's attempts to get me to stop and finally his arms fell limply to his sides, I didn't release though. I wanted to choke everything out of the Eraser.

"Fang, that's enough, it's dead." Iggy said putting his hand on my shoulder.

At first I didn't hear him, I kept seeing red, the anger inside of me too great to just forget. My ears were ringing.

"Max. Where's Max?" I finally snapped out of my daze. I looked down at the Eraser and saw him lying lifeless under me.

"Doesn't look good." Iggy said solemnly and shook his head. I jumped up from the Eraser and ran over to Max's still body. Nudge was cradling her head in her arms, Max's eyes were closed and I expected the worst. Tears were already starting to spill out of my eyes and stinging the side of my face where the Eraser clawed me.

_**This is not the end**_

_**This is not the beginning,**_

_**Just a voice like a riot **_

_**Rocking every revision**_

_**But you listen to the tone**_

_**And the violent rhythm**_

_**Though the words sound steady**_

_**Something empty's within 'em**_

_**(Holding on to what I haven't got)**_

*1 week later*

I'm all alone in the room sitting on my bed. The past week was a shock to my system and nothing like anything I had to endure in the past.

"Fang? Can you come down here please?" Angel yelled from another room.

I sighed and stood up, my ribs were still pretty much painful and the stitches in my face made going out a little embarrassing.

"Yeah?" I asked finally reaching the top of the stairs, Angel was standing at the bottom leaning against the railing waiting for me, her arms were folded over her chest.

She smiled up at me and spoke. "Dr Martinez said you could go and visit her, she's here to pick you up."

My eyes went wide and for the first time in so many weeks I smiled.

"Hey Fang, how does your face feel?" Dr M said joining Angel. This is about the time my excitement peaked and I ran down the stairs to hug them both.

I pulled them both into a hug, for a moment forgetting the pain the few cracked ribs gave me.

Dr M loaded us all into her SUV and we drove off to the hospital.

When we got there we got the room number and I practically ran at full speed, _dodging patients and doctors all the way_, to her room.

I came to a stop however before I went in.

I stood there standing in front of the door when Iggy finally caught up, _why couldn't I go in_?

"Ig, I can't go in." I said softly to Iggy when he decided to just wait for me to say something.

"Dr M said she asked for you." Iggy said smiling a convincing smile at me.

"Ig, I just can't." I turned away from him and knew I was acting like a coward.

"You'll just have to suck it up and go in then, here let me help." He said and pulled the door open, before I knew what was happening he punched me in the stomach and pushed me in.

I curled up on myself, I took a deep breath and pushed the pain away long enough to turn around and scowl at him. He smiled and flashed me a peace sign and closed the door. I took another gasping breath and placed my hands on my knees, I mentally cursed Iggy and started planning my revenge.

"Fang?" A soft voice said behind me. My eyes went wide and I straightened up. I didn't turn around.

_Shit._

"That is you Fang!" She realized and as swiftly as only Max could, she had a bedpan in her hand and threw it at my head.

Luckily for me it was clean and she wasn't set to kill. The pan hit me in the back of my head anyway and I slowly turned around.

She gasped when she saw my face. I sort of gasped too when I saw how beaten _she_ looked. Her face wasn't as swollen as Dr M said it looked the day after the incident, but it still looked bad. Her face was a mixture of blues, yellows, reds and her normal skin color. She had a thick bandage wrapped around her head and a band aid over her nose, there was a few light scratches to the side of her cheek but nothing permanent like my stitched up cheek.

She smiled after the initial shock of seeing my face. I couldn't help myself but smile too.

"You look like hell." She said jokingly while trying to sit up in her bed.

She struggled to get herself up with one arm, _the other was in a sling_, so I went over and helped her. "Yeah, but you don't look so good yourself." I think I saw her blush just then and added. "But you still look like the most beautiful avian-American I have ever seen."

She smiled shyly for a moment then she got that really sexy smile of hers on again. I leaned down and our lips met.

I kissed her and she kissed me, it was careful and tender, the sweetest kiss I have ever had.

"Brought your food Sleeping Beauty." Iggy said pushing the door open with his shoulder. I pulled back and saw Max rolling her eyes. Looking back at Iggy with the tray of food in his hands I saw the knowing _I-just-ruined-your-moment-now_ smile.

"Damn, and I already used that bedpan on you." Max said under her breath but took the food from Iggy anyway. "Thanks Ig."

I smiled when I realized that what was happening here wasn't the end of me being away, it wasn't the beginning of me being back either, but rather the continuing of _me_ being with the Flock, and I would never trade this for anything.

_**We say Yeah!**_

_**With fists flying up in the air**_

_**Like we're holding onto something**_

_**That's invisible there,**_

_**'Cause we're living at the mercy of**_

_**The pain and the fear**_

_**Until we dead it, Forget it,**_

_**Let it all disappear**_

_**(Holding on to what i haven't got!)**_

I'd rather live at the mercy of pain and fear and knowing I'd just cuddle up with Max at the end of the day, than ever losing what I love the most ever again. Here is where I belong, with the Flock, _and with Max. _Being what we are, living this life and living for each day. This is who I am, a bird kid with my Flock.

The End.


End file.
